A desire to become more aggressive
offensively has paid dividends for TWU’s fast-improving soccer team.

The Pioneers split their two road
matches over the weekend, improving to 2-3-1 on the season and opening Lone
Star Conference action at 1-1. Notching a 2-1 win at Eastern New Mexico on
Friday was particularly pleasing to head coach Fleur Benatar, whose team won
only one game last season.

“It’s a big deal,” she said. “Any win is
a step in the right direction, and scoring goals is a big step in the right
direction.”

TWU has scored at least one goal in five
games this season, and the Pioneers are beating their opponents in the three
key offensive statistics: scoring, shots and shots on goal. TWU holds a 12-9
edge over opponents in goals and has outshot its opponents 117-81. In shots on
goal, the Pioneers have posted a 56-37 edge.

Senior forward Brittany Martin scored
one goal against Eastern New Mexico — her third consecutive game with a goal —
and leads TWU with five goals and 12 points. Meanwhile, the Pioneers received
goals from junior Meredith Molge, her first of the season, and freshman Haleigh
Wanzer, who connected for her first career score.

“Brittany is our main threat, and she
brings another dimension to us,” Benatar said. “She’s playing with more
confidence and understands what’s at stake this year as a senior and how to
attack our opponents.”

Benatar also has been impressed with the
play of junior transfer Lindsey Sisco, who was the goalkeeper for both weekend
games, and her all-freshman defensive line of Erin Bolinger, Sara Deeb, Ryleigh
Spivey and Cecily Martinez.

“All four of the freshmen act like
they’re seniors,” Benatar said. “They’re playing all 90 minutes and really
contributing.”

TWU plays hosts to Incarnate Word at
7:30 p.m. Friday and Angelo State at 2 p.m. Sunday in LSC games.

Pioneers
to hold clinic

A free, one-hour youth soccer clinic
will be given by the Pioneers immediately following their home game Sunday
against Angelo State.

The clinic, for boys and girls in eighth
grade and below, will offer instruction from Benatar, her coaching staff and
members of the team.

“We’ve put on these clinics for the last
several years, and they just keep getting bigger and better,” Benatar said.
“This is a great opportunity to receive instruction from collegiate players and
coaches.”

Registration for the clinic will be held
at a table near the field entrance and all participants must have a waiver
completed by a parent or guardian. All clinic participants will receive free
admission to the game. Waiver forms are available at www.twuathletics.com. More
information is available by contacting Jeff Bowerman at 940-898-2385 or jbowerman@twu.edu .

Volleyball

Depth
on display

The Pioneers’ depth was on display over
the weekend as TWU opened conference play with a pair of road victories to
improve to 8-2 overall.

While senior Viktorija Jablonska
continued to dominate with her third triple-double of the season in a win over
Incarnate Word, there were plenty of others making valuable contributions.

Junior Chloe’ Tate led Friday’s win over
Texas A&M-Kingsville with 13 kills and came back two days later with 11
against Incarnate Word. The Ryan graduate was named the LSC’s player of the
week Tuesday.

Junior Josie Santos also came up big
with 11 kills against the Javelinas and 15 against UIW.

Many of those kills were set up by
sophomore setter Kayla Rivero, who registered 28 assists in each match.

“We’re deeper than we think we’ve ever
been,” head coach Shelly Barberee said. “We always talk about our hitters, but
Kayla has done a phenomenal job for us so far, as has [libero] Morgan Wilson.
She’s up there in the conference in digs per set.

“Kayla has stepped up a little bit this
year and done a great job,” Barberee added. “And she’s getting the ball to the
hitter that it needs to go to. You can have all the offense in the world, but
if you don’t have a setter to set them up, it’s no good.”

TWU
facing tough stretch

The Pioneers find themselves halfway
through the toughest portion of their schedule, a stretch of 12 of 14 games on
the road. TWU will play two home games this weekend and will close out the
regular season with seven straight home games.

On Tuesday, the Pioneers played at Texas
A&M-Commerce — their seventh consecutive road test — but will play host to
Eastern New Mexico at 5 p.m. Friday and West Texas A&M at 2 p.m. Saturday.

Barberee prefers to look at the positive
side of the quirky schedule.

“At the end of the season, that’s what
really counts,” she said. “That’s when everyone is fighting for everything, and
we’re home. That’s when most teams are tired from the season and we’ll be home.

“Come three weeks and we’ll be through
it,” she said. “We’ll be dragging and mentally and physically exhausted, but we
won’t have to travel. We’ll be home.”

Briefly
...

Jablonska registered a career-high 19
digs against UIW. ... Freshman Torie Talkington saw her first extended action
against the Cardinals and wound up with 15 digs.

Softball

Annual
events slated

Two annual fall events scheduled by the
TWU softball team — the faculty/staff game and the Hit-A-Thon fundraiser — will
be held Oct. 5 at Pioneer Field.

Scheduled for 3 p.m., the third
faculty/staff game pits employees of TWU in a scrimmage against the Pioneers
softball team. Admission is free.

Immediately following the game, the
Pioneers will conduct their third annual Hit-A-Thon, a home run derby in which
the total distance of hits by selected members of the team will be calculated.
Sponsors of the event will donate an agreed amount per foot for the average
distance of each player’s longest homer.

TWU players and coaches are soliciting
sponsors, and interested individuals or businesses can e-mail head coach Richie
Bruister at rbruister@twu.edu for more information.

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